I’m pleased to be able to offer a Writers Digest Webinar on memoir and lifestory writing.
At this webinar you get:
* a short course on memoir writing, from finding your memories to learning how to use fictional tools such as plot and scene
* a critique of your work
* the chance to ask questions life on the webinar about your writing
* and a FREE download of my new book The Power of Memoir
Sign up at the link provided above! Join me for a full course on memoir writing in 90 minutes!
Memoir writers need to go through several stages of writing to create a complete story that’s ready to be published. First, you write the emotional draft(s) where you find your memories and spill out your story. Next, as you find out what the stories are that land on the page—they may not be the same ones that floated in your head all those years—you can begin to craft your memoir so a reader can follow it, so you have a story and not just a series of disconnected events.
These days, the convention is for memoir writers to write their story using fictional tools such as scenes, dialogue, sensual details, and to learn about the craft of story structure. In this post, we are going to look at how to find the main events—the turning points of your life—since a memoir is not an autobiography. You do not start at the beginning and write about everything. You memoir needs a theme, and it needs to touch upon significant events where you learned something important that others can learn about.
You are writing your memoir first for your own understanding, but if you want to create a publishable work, then you need to think of the reader in the later drafts. You need to invite the reader—who does not know and love you already—into your story.
Your turning points are the emotional hot spots of your life. Knowing these will help to sort through the millions of memories that you have your memoir, and the turning points will help to build the spine of your memoir structure. These are the moments of BIG CHANGE, the times when your life took a turn in another direction, propelled by powerful forces. These can be inner forces, such as a spiritual awakening, a moment of complete clarity, or you might think of outer forces such as an illness, a move, a sudden loss.
A turning point can be a powerful moment of utter happiness, a marriage, traveling to another country, or the birth of a child. These are special times that have deep meaning to you, and that made a difference in the course of your life. Your turning points are the times that taught you a lesson, times that woke you up, times that shaped you into the person that you are now.
Finding your turning points will help you to focus on these special moments and capture them in a list, which will then be plotted on a timeline.
Ask yourself: what moments ended the life I was living before, and changed the direction of my life? In a fictional story or a movie, we know that the plot is going to change when someone new wanders into town, when this new person shows up, we expect there to be important changes or we would not, as readers/viewers be shown this event. Some of your turning points may be meeting someone new—a teacher, an older person who influenced your life. Or it might be a lover, a partner, someone who taught you how to relate differently.
I love Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write. She invites the juicy creative aspects of ourselves to come out and play.
Writing, the creative effort, the use of the imagination, should come first—at least for some part of the day every day of your life. It is a wonderful blessing if you use it.
When you write, if it is to be any good at all, you must feel free, free and not anxious.
All creativity experts, from Julia Cameron to Rollo May advise writers to let ‘er rip, the way to bypass the inner critic, and a great way to enjoy the first fruits of your writing.
Finding your turning points offers you a way to focus on topics, emotional themes, and begin what might be the spine of the plot of your memoir. If you have begun your memoir, make a list of the turning points that you have included. This can clarify your progress.
Enjoy the discovery process, and begin your list today.
More details about these exercises can be found in my book The Power of Memoir.
When I wrote The Power of Memoir and my own memoir Don’t Call Me Mother, I spent more time editing than writing! For some writers, editing is fun, creative and mind-stretching. Finding the right word, feeling out the best tone for the mood of a piece is like polishing the piece, much the same way as a carpenter puts on the final finishes of a handmade table. For others, editing is a chore, something that has to be done. Writers who want to improve their work—whose first draft is truly ready for the eyes of others?— need to edit for style and accuracy of usage as well as subtleties of meaning and language.
I’m asked to be a judge of memoir writing contests from time to time. As I sort through the pages, I notice certain patterns and bad habits that lead me to put a manuscript in the “no” pile. Let’s look at some of the ways that a contest judge views the early pages of a manuscript. Note: if you have a lot of errors on the first or second page, your judge will not read on.
Final suggestions: As you write your first draft, allow yourself time to add in details and ask yourself questions: did I use scenes and sensual detail? Does the reader, who does not know me, see and experience my world through their senses? Does spell check give the correct answer for every word—often it’s incorrect for the default setting in grammar and spelling, and you have to check each word yourself.
Think of your work as having layers, each encounter with your manuscript leading to a more polished story. And, don’t forget to enjoy the process!
National Association of Memoir Writers to Offer New Memoir Writing Tele-class this Fall 6 Memoir Writing Tele-classes with Online Writing Support Component
Instructor: Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.
When: 6 Fridays Beginning October 1st (class will not meet October 15, 2010)
Time: 1 PM PDT | 2 MDT | 3 CDT | 4 EDT
Cost: $175 for NAMW Lifetime Members / $190 for NAMW Annual members / $325 for non-NAMW members | Become a NAMW member to receive a discount!
Writing a memoir is fun, challenging and…it asks you by the nature of being what it is, to dance with your memories, to dig into the images in your mind, and to relive them by recreating them on the page. Most of the time, this is enjoyable. How I enjoyed capturing some of the special moments of my life with people I loved—my great-grandmother in her garden, Mr. Brauninger my music teacher skipping into the fourth grade class, soaring on his violin. Other memories were more challenging—my mother coming and going on the train, the family struggles that I witnessed, my pounding heart.
This six week course will address both the emotional and the technical aspects of writing a memoir from truth and secrets to the reasons for writing in scene and learning about plot. You will be able to share vignettes from your own life in the workshop and receive feedback and support from your fellow writers.
Join us for “school” this fall in a memoir workshop that anyone can join. You do not need to already have a memoir started. You can begin now or come with your work in progress.
Class Outline:
Week One
Secrets and truth. Family conflicts. Having a Beginner’s Mind. Mining Your Memories
Beginning means to be open to what needs to come. Sometimes we need to figure out how to deal with the secrets and family issues before we can feel free to write. We will talk about truth, secrets, how to begin, and how to create a safe writing world for yourself in this first meeting. You will begin to list the memories and snapshots you want to capture.
Week Two
Themes of your Life and Your Turning Points
We will talk about the importance of finding your themes; the turning points exercise helps you to do this. The themes of your work are a thread that continues throughout the piece, a path through the forest of ideas and words. Dark and light stories in your memoir—keeping the balance.
Week Three
Scenes; Sensual Details, and Creating Memories on the Page
Scenes are important building blocks of stories. We will talk about what makes up a scene, and learn about using sensual details of sight, sound, texture, and taste.
Week Four
Dialogue and setting; Character Portraits; Painting with Words
Creating worlds with words. Painting with words. Word play by writing quick flashes to capture moments. Experimenting with language, imagery, and snapshots.
Week Five
The narrative arc; how to understand what it is and how to use it to help you craft your memoir. The narrative voice, narrative arc, and plot create a structure for your work.
Week Six
The Power of Writing a Memoir
We will wrap up the course by listing the ways you can keep your writing life going, finding a schedule and developing a plan for your memoir. The benefits, challenges and rewards of writing a memoir and keeping your writing life supported are all part of being a writer. Issues such as healing, resolution, and forgiveness are part of this week’s discussion.
